Murdering Sleep on the Early Modern English Stage

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14210%2F21%3A00123759" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14210/21:00123759 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/12543" target="_blank" >https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/12543</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.13128/JEMS-2279-7149-12543" target="_blank" >10.13128/JEMS-2279-7149-12543</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Murdering Sleep on the Early Modern English Stage

Original language description

In early modern England, sleep enjoyed a special cultural status and was a frequent subject of both learned and popular discourse. As such, sleeping became a recurrent motif in popular culture, including theatre. The present article discusses a distinct dramaturgical employment of sleeping – the victimisation of a sleeping character on the stage. It seems that this theatrical pattern, or theatergram, was especially popular in the 1590s, when plays such as Henry VI, Part Two, Thomas of Woodstock, Edward II, The True Tragedy of Richard III and Shakespeare’s Richard III appeared, containing scenes of a murdered sleeping person with a number of dramatic and thematic similarities. Similarly, Jacobean plays such as Othello, The Devil’s Charter, The Maid’s Tragedy, The Valliant Welshman, The Faithful Friends, Cymbeline and The Tempest, all of which seem to have appeared within a decade and a half in the early 17th century, also employ this trope, whose dramaturgy seems to elaborate on the aforementioned Elizabethan histories. What is noteworthy is the fact that, although we do not know the authors or dates of composition of some of the works, they all revolve around William Shakespeare and his playing company. The present article traces the development of the theatregram of the victimised sleeper, arguing that its visual and thematic appeal, as well as dramatic versatility, made it a staple of late Tudor and early Stuart drama which contributed to the stylistic development of the early modern English theatre.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

60206 - Specific literatures

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Early Modern Studies

ISSN

2279-7149

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

10

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

IT - ITALY

Number of pages

26

Pages from-to

125-150

UT code for WoS article

000725670900007

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85103176500